Hubris
by VoxNexus
Summary: Spartacus' vow to protect Aurelia at all costs puts his men in danger and intensifies tensions between his men and that of Crixus.


He leapt down into the swarm of frightened civilians and the jostling fray of Romans taking position to block off his and Spartacus' sect of gladiators as they stormed the city. With battle-hardened readiness he swerved his sword to the left of him to block off an attacking soldier. Then, with intuitive vigilance, he caught the sound of sandals slapping against the cobblestones behind him and spun around to cut down another one of Glaber's approaching men; the edge of his blade hacking away his arm before severing their head. He then kicked the carcass aside and thrusted his gladius forward, catching another soldier in the stomach before bringing his knee up beneath his blade to shove the spasming body off of the sword.

Crixus then took a quick peripheral glimpse at the chaotic slew of fleeing men and women to gladiator and legionnaire parrying and delivering strikes of equal lethal capacity. Behind him, Agron took a bold sprint towards the tortured Aurelia and with thoughtless ease and minute effort, flung her body over his shoulder while still keeping his brisk pace. With sword in his free hand, he shifted his weight and sliced open a soldier that stepped out infront of him to block his path. The man was still alive as he fell to the floor, the pain writhing in his stomach sharp enough, that it tore a hollow, afflicted scream from his throat.

Closer to where Lucretia hid, Spartacus busied himself with the fast forming circle of soldiers closing in on him. He managed to deter a blade from gutting open his neck and with the flat of his own sword, blocked and pushed back another one. With his chest heaving and beads of sweat slicking his skin from the flurry of rage that bore through him, he pressed on; stabbing and thrashing his gladius until his palm felt hot and the hilt of his sword burned from how intensely he held it.

"You cannot win this!" Crixus flanked his side and lunged at another one of Glaber's men. His sword grazed down their arm as he tried to fend of Crixus' attack. In that instant, another soldier stepped forward and engaged Crixus with skilled form; the falling arc of his gladius a prelude to potential bloodshed if not redirected.

"If you continue to fight-," Crixus began, before saving his breath to enact a final blow into the soldier's helmet, creating a dent, "-You'll never see vengeance."

Spartacus surged forward and brought the tip of his sword into the side of a soldier's throat, nicking the artery open.

He took a split moment to share an agreeable glance with Crixus before they resorted to a defensive stance and cleaved a path through the Roman offense.

_**-Secui Duos-**_

As Crixus gathered with his men, most whose bodies wore the sign of their combative ordeals – fresh wounds and congealing scars, he took a moment to count, control and meditate on the sound of his own breathing. In the dim, quietness of the city sewers and underground tunnels, he could hear himself think, to the point that he wouldn't have been surprised if his own thoughts began echoing in his head.

The sound of a group of heavyset men approaching his own resounded and he turned to face Spartacus and his retinue of gladiators.

"What you did today endangered us all," Crixus said matter-of-factually, his hoarse timbre scraping Spartacus' ears and most evidently, his ego.

The renegade Thracian rested his palm firmly against Agron's chest, to still him as he took a protective step forward. Agron had rapidly made his presence known amongst his men, as a maelstrom of churning anger. He'd jump to Spartacus' defense without command and did so at the threat of his own life, or that of the man to whom he imposed a danger to. At that moment, the prospect of violence would be between Spartacus and Crixus. Not Agron and his insatiable blood-thirst.

"What I did was save Varro's wife!" Spartacus protested, his voice sure and firm.

Crixus all but scoffed.

"She is barely alive...we could have been out of this Roman-infested city by now. You endanger us all for the lowly, life of a dying woman!" Crixus spat, his voice raising until it swallowed up all other sounds in the tunnel.

Spartacus took a few, long, calculated breaths before speaking. "A woman to whom I promised a fellow brother I'd protect." He turned his back to Crixus and walked into the direction of where Aurelia was being kept, to be tended to by some of the former house slaves. He could hear Agron seethe at Crixus and his men before turning to keep pace with him.


End file.
